WIA 110 Year Anniversary · 2020. 3. 10. · or [email protected] Letters to Editor Editor AR Magazine PO Box 2042 BAYSWATER VIC 3153 or [email protected] Hamads ÔHamadsÕ PO Box

www.wia.org.au

Volume 88Number 1 2020Price: $12.50 incl GST

Build: Low Cost HF Digital Mode Receiver DIY HF Transceiver (continued) Affordable Wideband Power Meter IRLP Node for Raspberry Pi

WIA 110 Year AnniversaryRadio Amateur Callbook History (Part 1)

Amateur Radio Vol. 88 No. 1 2020 1

Volume 88Number 1

2020ISSN 0002-6859

Editorial Editor in Chief Volunteer [email protected]

Technical Editor Volunteer Vacancies

Publications CommitteeBruce Bathols VK3UVDr. Brian Clarke VK2GCEEric van de Weyer VK2VEEwen Templeton VK3OWWIA Offi ce Bruce Deefholts VK3FBLD

All circulation mattersnationaloffi [email protected]

How to submit materialAR Publications CommitteePO Box 2042BAYSWATER VIC 3153or [email protected]

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Registered Offi ceUnit 20 11-13 Havelock RoadBAYSWATER VIC 3153AustraliaPhone: 03 9729 0400Fax: 03 9729 7325

Production DeadlinesAll articles, columns, hamads and advertising booking for the next issue by 21 February 2020.

The contents of Amateur Radio are CopyrightWireless Institute of Australia © 2020 All Rights Reserved.

TechnicalHomebrew HF Transceiver 8 Part 1 Receiver Luigi Destefano VK3AQZ

Wide Band RF Power Meter: 21 50 MHz to 10.4 GHz Jim Henderson VK1AT

The JS Eight Zero: Simple 3.5 MHz 24 JS8 receiver uses cheap crystals Peter Parker VK3YE

IRLP Node based on Raspberry Pi 29 Robert Campiciano VK2YMU

Contributions to Amateur RadioAmateur Radio is a forum for WIA members’ amateur radio experiments, experiences, opinions and news. Manuscripts with drawings and/or photos are welcome and will be considered for publication. Articles attached to email are especially welcome. The

WIA cannot be responsible for loss or damage to any material. Information on house style is available from the Editor.

Back IssuesBack issues are available directly from the WIA National Offi ce (until stocks are exhausted), at $8.00 each (including postage within Australia) to members.Photostat copiesIf back issues are unavailable, photocopies of articles are available to members at $2.50 each (plus an additional $2 for each additional issue in which the article appears).DisclaimerThe opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily refl ect the offi cial view of the WIA and the WIA cannot be held responsible for incorrect information published.

Contributions to AmAmaWIAexpeopinwithwelcfor pema

WIA cannot be responsible for los

ColumnsALARA 54Board Comment 3, 4DX Talk 44Editorial 2, 4Hamads 63Meteor Scatter Report 40SOTA & Parks 46VHF/UHF – An Expanding World 36WIA Awards 58WIA News 5, 7, 16VK2 News 53VK3 News 52, 62

VK4 News 43VK6 News 50VK7 News 48

The Journal of the Wireless Institute of Australia

This month’s cover:Main Photo: Elsa VK6FZEB, on the air, recently passed her Foundation Licence, aged 10.Insert: DIY Wide Band Power Meter, see article on page 21.

GeneralWICEN and 2019-20 bushfi res 6 Neil Fallshaw VK2XNF

Callbooks: Their continuing value 17 Peter Wolfenden VK3RV

WIA Conference Weekend 34 WIA

Amateur Foundations - 42 How far can I talk on radio? Onno Benschop VK6FLAB

Australia wins Commonwealth 57 Contest again Allan Mason, VK2GR

CABDEHMSVWWVV

VVV

ThThisis mmononththth’’ss ccovoverer::Main Photo Elsa VK6FZEB on the air recently

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AR Magazine Copyright WIA 2020. For personal use by Paul Simmonds, WIA member 400232. Downloaded Tue 10 Mar 2020 at 16:47:11

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2 Amateur Radio Vol. 88 No. 1 2020

Continued on page 4

National Offi ceExecutive Administrator Bruce Deefholts VK3FBLD

Board of DirectorsPresident Gregory Kelly VK2GPKVice-President Aidan Mountford VK4APMDirectors Peter Clee VK8ZZ Dr Harry Edgar VK6YBZ Aidan Mountford VK4APM Mike Alsop VK8MASecretary Peter Clee VK8ZZ

CoordinatorsAMSAT Paul Paradigm VK2TXTARDF Jack Bramham VK3WWWAustralian ARISS Shane Lynd VK4KHZAwards Graham Alston VK3GA Clubs Ted Thrift VK2ARAContests Craig Edwards VK8PDXJohn Moyle Field Day Denis Johnstone VK4AEEditor ‘AR’ Volunteer VacancyEMC/EMR Gilbert Hughes VK1GHStandards Ron Cook VK3AFW Noel Higgins VK3NHNTAC John Martin VK3KMHistorian Peter Wolfenden VK3RVIARU Region 3 Director Peter Young VK3MVMonitoring Service Peter Young VK3MV

ITU Conference & Study Group Brett Dawson VK2CBD Dale Hughes VK1DSHQSL Curator National Offi ceRepeater Peter Mill VK3ZPP Andrew Chapman VK4QFWebpage Robert Broomhead VK3DNInformation Systems Joseph Mullins VK5FJDE

Amateur Radio ServiceA radiocommunication service for the purpose of self-

training, intercommunication and technical investigation

carried out by amateurs; that is, by duly authorised

persons interested in radio technique solely with a

personal aim and without pecuniary interest.

Wireless Institute of AustraliaABN 56 004 920 745

The world’s oldestNational Radio Society, founded 1910.

Representing The Australian Amateur Radio Service

Member of the International Amateur Radio Union

Registered Offi ce of the WIAAndersson House

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PO Box 2042 BAYSWATER VIC 3153Business hours: 10am – 4pm weekdays

EditorialBrian Clarke VK2GCE

New Year Greetings: It’s that time of year again when we had all hoped someone had been thinking of us suffi ciently to supply more radio and electronics goodies for us to enjoy. For some of us, during our work, school, college or university holidays, it’s been a time to get all the components together to build up that latest Arduino kit, or to connect up all those pre-assembled boards we purchased from China, or restart communication with that CubeSat we had launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida, Rocket Lab’s site at Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand, or Plezetsk in Russia.

For many, holidays are almost a memory; did you collect all those components for building an RF amplifi er, assembling a UHF high-gain antenna, making up an interface kit for connecting your transceiver to a tablet and testing that latest digital mode with all that new software? Perhaps you got out all that Field Day gear to test it to make sure it would be operational for the next contest – spare fuses, cables, headphones and microphones, fully-charged batteries, all the parts for the antenna, a battery or gas powered soldering iron?

Radio Amateur Service: In January 2004, the predecessor to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA ) agreed with the removal of the need for Morse Code competence; it was anticipated this would lead to an increase in numbers of radio amateurs, and it did. In October 2005, under the new ACMA, the restructuring of the multitude of other licence categories (e.g. Novice, Limited) into just two was

permitted; this change was also expected to be accompanied by a further increase in numbers of radio amateurs; Standard Licence holder numbers shifted up by 9, Advanced retreated by 230. When the WIA bought the Foundation Licence package from the RSGB in January 2006, this turned out to be the greatest thing since sliced bread! 915 new radio amateurs gained their Foundation Licence holder in the initial year.

After the introduction of the Foundation Licence, there was a 6-year period of year-on-year growth in Foundation and Standard licence holders and a continuing fall in Advanced Licence holders. The fall in Advanced Licence holder numbers has not abated since 2005. The upward change in Standard Licence holder numbers has hovered around 3 per annum. The numbers of Foundation and Standard Licence holders upgrading has hovered between 50 and 100 per annum, ie, about 0.35 to 0.7% of total radio amateurs per annum. So, the dream of a ‘pipeline’ of Foundation Licence holders converting to Standard and Advanced levels is not really happening. When your dream does not become reality, what do you do? Kid yourself the numbers are ‘statistics, bloody statistics’ (the Winston Churchill defence), change your expectations, or change your licence upgrade plan?

Time for Reinvention: Almost all countries’ national Amateur Radio associations have the word ‘radio’ in their title. If you ask any youngster what is understood by ‘radio’, you will get a blank look. But mention ‘electronics’, ‘wireless’ ,’coding’ and ‘Information Technology’, and suddenly the



Board commentGreg Kelly VK2GPK

Continued on page 4

Welcome to 2020, another year has just fl own by! I would like to take the opportunity to wish everyone a happy and healthy new year for 2020.

110 Year WIA Anniversary: The WIA looks forward to a signifi cant anniversary in 2020 – 110 years young! Few organisations have such longevity – especially a not-for-profi t, volunteer organisation in a rapidly evolving electro-technology sector. Remember the WIA is a member based organisation – the WIA is you and only exists to support the Australian Radio Amateur Service cohort nationally and internationally. The WIA board thanks the membership for their continued support.

Whilst the current national WIA was incorporated as a public company relatively recently in 2004 – superseding the prior state based federated model - the WIA’s formation dates back to 1910. The magazine will be running a number of historical articles during the year highlighting events across this timeline, starting this issue with the history of the ‘callbook’ that we hope you fi nd interesting and informative.

Bushfi re Emergencies: At this time bushfi res are raging widely across large areas of Australia with the loss of both life and property. This is occurring on an unprecedented scale due to the catastrophic combination of record low rainfall, heatwave conditions and high fuel loads – and increasing average temperatures due to climate change.

As a society, we continue to be indebted to the emergency services

personnel and many volunteers involved in fi ghting these fi res and assisting the many communities directly impacted. And special thanks to those radio amateurs volunteering either directly or via organisations such as WICEN. I sincerely thank those in our emergency services who often put their own lives at risk to protect our society.

Bushfi res have now decimated vast tracts Australia across most states, with many tragic deaths of both residents and emergency services personnel, the loss of thousands of homes, infrastructure, crops and farm equipment. The short and long term impacts on the native fl ora and fauna are at a scale it is diffi cult if not impossible to comprehend. The likely economic impacts are only now beginning to be quantifi ed. Whilst the weather conditions have eased somewhat in the last week with lower temperatures and higher humidity, the fi res continue to burn. Over 100 fi res are still burning in my state and 40 of those still uncontained at the time this news item was composed. If and when it rains water supplies are likely to become contaminated from the fi re residue. Smoke is at hazardous levels in many areas. This is hardly a happy New Year for many.

Governments, especially the Federal Government, have been slow to react to the unfolding national disaster but are now starting to act with urgency. At my location in regional NSW in the Southern Highlands, the fi res have twice come within a few kilometres from different directions over a two-week period. The whole town has been seen subject to emergency evacuation notices on

each occasion. Whilst my residence has so far been unscathed, other neighbours have not been so fortunate. The anxiety of not knowing whether it will be there when you return takes a heavy toll. And the bushfi re season is far from over. And then there is the smoke!

Emergency CommunicationsWhat the bushfi res have shown the wider population is how fragile our communications and energy infrastructure are when subject to extreme events. Loss of power will result in most networks exhausting battery supplies in 6 – 8 hours. It was telling to see photos of people queuing to use the one or two public phones still working in some of the isolated townships, with no mobile phone, power or internet.

The only phones operating at that time were POTS phones – those still using 100-year-old copper line technology. Satellite phones were dropped into these areas, but some days after they were isolated. The lack of access to email was raised as a concern by those isolated. This is where early access to WINLINK1 by those isolated would have been so useful to contact emergency services, relatives and workplaces.

Call to Action: How relevant is Amateur Radio today in Australia for last-resort emergency communications? In other countries it remains very relevant, due in no small part to regular natural disasters. For example, regular EMCOMM tests are held in the US which have two benefi ts, one is

1 WINLINK is a worldwide system for reliably sending and receiving e-mail via radio in the AR RF spectrum. It is used extensively in maritime by sailors in the AR bands and in other RF spectrum by specialist agencies, such as MARS (Military Auxiliary Radio Service) in the US.

1 WINLINK is a



Continued from page 3


eyes light up. Is it time to refashion ourselves as the experts in electronics, wireless and IT? The WIA is already along the path with its name; is it time to change the name of its fl agship magazine to attract more members? Changing the WIA’s media image is one thing; but how effective will that be without some other motivators? In at least one country, school children start playing with small, pre-assembled printed wiring boards to make their own projects, such as light shows or operate robots or drones. In other words, these school children meet electronics and wireless communication at a very early age.

Next Steps: In preparation for a series of editorials on this topic, I have made contact with the Presidents, Vice-presidents and Youth organisers of WIA-like associations in China, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Korea (South

mainly because there are only 3 radio amateurs in North Korea), New Zealand, Russia, South Africa and Taiwan. I have asked them:

1. What is the Chinese Radio Sports Association (CRSA) doing to attract members?

2. What proportion of Chinese radio amateurs are members of the CRSA?

3. At what rate and in what direction is CRSA membership going?

4. What does the CRSA do to debrief members who choose to leave?

Instead of CRSA, I have substituted DARC, ORARI, JARL, KARL, NZART and so on. Like the WIA, offi ce bearers in all these organisations are volunteers. So, it may be a wee while before I have some suggestions. I hope to have more for you in the next edition.

Stop Press: It is with great sadness we advise our readers of the recent (15 January) passing of Kaye Wright VK3FKDW, having lost her battle with Motor Neurone Disease. Kaye was a respected member of the Amateur Radio Community - contributing substantively not only to the WIA but also ALARA and her home club the Moorabbin and District Radio Club. She was the long serving secretary of this magazine’s publishing team known as ‘PubComm’ and only stepped down from this volunteer role a few months ago. Kaye was the unsung hero of this group. Her organising skills were amazing, her persistence, good humour and commitment to keeping the team on track - akin to ‘herding cats’ apparently – will be sorely missed.

73

Brian VK2GCEActing Editor

it educates politicians, the public and emergency services of what Amateur Radio is and it formalizes the mechanisms to instantiate an EMCOMM response to a disaster.

This AR engagement would most likely be more feasible here with local councils and their emergency response representatives, rather than state or federal government. This should be a distributed model, where local clubs (singularly or jointly) could assist. This would be most effective if there was a standard framework of EMCOMM capabilities to start the dialogue and facilitate interoperation. The WIA proposed a framework some years ago called RAVEN (Radio Amateur Volunteer Emergency Network), but it didn’t gain traction from members at the time – I believe now a window of opportunity exists for a year or

two to establish an EMCOMM frame work that will help with the long term relevance of the Radio Amateur Service. Your constructive input will be greatly appreciated, please email nationaloffi [email protected]

ACMA Syllabus Review: The ACMA Syllabus review panel is meeting for the fi rst time at the end of January. The WIA has three representatives from our Education Team on the Panel. The WIA goal is to update the syllabus for the three licence classes in line with current technology (eg. digital modes) and ensure compliance with HAREC requirements for at least the Advanced Licence class. The RSGB has just completed a review and update of their three licence classes, which came into effect in the UK last September. The RSGB

update was the result of thousands of hours of volunteer effort.Nomination for Directors: By the time you read this, nominations would have either closed or be about to close at the end of January for the half-board election. If there are suffi cient nominations that exceed the available vacancies, an election will ensue.

WIA 2020 Convention Hobart: Don’t forget to register, it is May 8 -10. This is an important yearly forum for members to provide input and feedback to the incoming WIA Board. Plus lots of great tech-talks and events and tours. It is also a great opportunity to spend some time in the island state, so if you can make it, see you there!

73Greg VK2GPK



Continued on page 7

WIA newsWorld Radio Conference WRC-19 Concludes:Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, 21 November 2019WRC-19 Concludes with no loss of Amateur Spectrum – although proposals for WRC-23, such as the 23cm (1240-1300MHz) proposal from France for removal of secondary access to this band due to navigational satellite interference potential demonstrates the need to be vigilant. Short Duration Satellites: There is still no agreement on how to protect existing services and uses of the uplink frequency band proposed for telemetry, tracking and command of these “simple” satellites.

5725-5850 MHz: This part of the amateur secondary allocation, which includes an amateur-satellite downlink at 5830-5850 MHz, is the subject of an unresolved confl ict over parameters for wireless access systems including radio local area networks.

Frequencies above 275 GHz: This upper frequency range is not allocated but several bands are identifi ed for passive (receive-only) use and administrations are encouraged to protect them from harmful interference. With that in mind, WRC-19 has identifi ed other bands above 275 GHz for the implementation of land mobile and fi xed service applications. The use of these bands for applications in other services, including amateur experimentation, is not precluded.

50Mhz Region 1: WRC-19 has approved an allocation in the 50 MHz band for amateurs in Region 1.There are provisions to protect the other existing services that use the band in Region 1 and neighboring countries in Region 3. The existing primary allocation of 50-54 MHz in Regions 2 and 3 is unaffected.

The WRC-19 decision on its agenda item 1.1 (50Mhz) is the culmination of years of effort by the IARU and its member-societies, mainly in Region 1 but with support

from the other two regions. The ITU Radiocommunication Sector working group in which preparations were conducted was chaired by Dale Hughes, VK1DSH, of Australia who was chosen to chair the sub working group dealing with the item at the WRC.Through their dues the members of IARU member-societies in all three regions, and especially the Deutscher Amateur Radio Club, Radio Society of Great Britain, Japan Amateur Radio League, Radio Amateurs of Canada, Wireless Institute of Australia, and ARRL have helped to fi eld the IARU team. [ Ed: all of these member-societies directly sponsor their representatives on their respective national delegations].

Without your membership’s support there could be no effective representation of the amateur and amateur-satellite services at WRC-19 and other international meetings and conferences.

See video IARU President Tim Ellam, VE6SH: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqphjb0Cds4&t=6s.Source: IARU WRC-19 delegation

Youth on the Air Camp Coming to Oceania – IARU Region 3 UpdateOn the 2nd and 3rd September 2019 the IARU Region 3 Directors met in Tokyo.

The directors reviewed progress on tasks directed and identifi ed at the last Directors’ meeting and the Regional Conference that were held in Seoul, Korea in September 2018.

The modifi ed interim Region 3 band plan proposed by the Region 3 Band plan Committee was approved in this meeting. A notable change was addition of a satellite portion in 15m Band as agreed at the last Region 3 Conference.

It was decided that an IARU Region 3 YOTA activity will take place in Pattaya, Thailand in October 2020, and we hope all the IARU Region 3 member societies will send their delegates to this event. [Ed: Australia is a founding member of IARU Region 3]Source: IARU Region 3.

Youth on the Air Camp Coming to the USAThe Electronic Applications Radio Service has announced that the fi rst Youth On The Air (YOTA) camp in the United States will be taking place next June. Sponsors hope the camp will become an annual event.

The inaugural summer camp will take place June 21 – 26 at the National Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting in West Chester Township, Ohio. The West Chester Amateur Radio Association (WC8VOA) will host the event. Operating the camp will be Electronic Applications Radio Service, Inc. (EARS), a 501(c)(3) charitable organization dedicated to wireless technologies and activities.

According to the announcement, the camp will focus on building peer and mentor relationships and taking amateur radio “to the next level.” Campers will attend workshops and activities in multiple STEM-related subjects, such as radio contesting, electronic kit building, D-Star, APRS, satellite communication, antenna building, and radio direction fi nding and orienteering. A high-altitude balloon launch is also being planned. Campers will learn and exercise on-the-air skills at special event station W8Y. YOTA USA 2020 Camp director is Neil Rapp, WB9VPGSource: ARRL

WIA DX Awards Start Dates NormalizedThe WIA Awards Committee has decided to normalise the effective start date for ALL DX awards to the same date, using the fi rst of January 1946 as the “reference date”. This rationalises the date handling and removes unnecessary complications about eligibility from the DX award process.

All QSO’s from this date onwards are now eligible for all awards.

Previously, awards had different start dates, depending on when they were fi rst created.

This means participants in the awards program may now qualify for new awards and/or endorsements.To ensure all your QSO’s are now eligible, simply upload all your QSO’s



WICEN (NSW) Inc. has been called upon to help in many areas of communication during the recent bushfi res throughout the State. Some members have volunteered to answer the phones for BFIL, the NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) Bush Fire Information Line (BFIL). Other members have been deployed to Glenn Innes, Port Macquarie, Kempsey, Wauchope, East Maitland, Shoalhaven and Hawkesbury RFS Fire Control Centres (FCC) as Communication Operators. Logistical support was provided at Quirindi and an Aviation Radio Operator at Kempsey. Communication Operators and technical support were provided at Bega, along with the setup of a radio network task force.

The following are accounts from several of our members of their deployment to Bega and BFIL.

BEGA: On Friday 3rd January, WICEN NSW personnel were deployed to Bega to provide communications in support of fi re response. On arrival in Bega, Irene VK2VAN and Jan VK2FEB commenced setting up the Communications bus (on loan from RFS in Dubbo) whilst Compton VK2HRX, Craig VK2BTQ and Matt VK1MA travelled up to Peak Alone (SOTA summit VK2/SC-008 for those SOTA fanatics) to deploy portable midband VHF and commercial UHF repeaters.

The midband VHF repeater far outperformed the UHF repeater

and UHF users were migrated to the VHF midband system. The WICEN NSW role involved the handling of GRN (Government Radio Network) and midband VHF traffi c in support of the VRA (Volunteer Rescue Association) as well as assisting the Bega Valley

Shire Council with communications into Bermagui on our systems. The repeaters were housed in one of the WICEN repeater trailers, with a solar array to charge the onboard batteries. The use of APRS enabled battery voltage to be monitored remotely, resulting in a reduction of trips needed to visit the site to check on battery status – important to us as it avoided a three hour return trip through an active fi reground. Of technical interest, we observed that the L band signals for Thuraya satellite phones and midband VHF signals were able to penetrate incredibly thick and dense smoke (visibility was down to approximately 20m at times) without observable attenuation.

Whilst enroute to Narooma for other tasking, VK2HRX and VK1MA also assisted the SES (State Emergency Service) by redeploying their SES-500 satellite ground station within Bermagui which at the time had no power, mobile phone coverage and very intermittent radio communications through the GRN. The redeployment of the SES-500 provided the NSW Ambulance service with reliable communications to the world outside of Bermagui.

Matt VK1MA, Compton VK2HRX

Bushfi re Information Line (BFIL) BFIL is run from the RFS headquarters at Olympic Park in

Homebush, Sydney. Operators take phone calls from the public seeking information about the state of the fi res in their area, whether it’s safe to drive from A to B, whether they can have a barbecue today and so on. Using the RFS website, Fires Near Me, and Roads and Maritime’s Live Traffi c NSW, we could answer 90% of incoming enquiries. This was essentially Message Passing 101, something all WICEN members learn; the only difference is we are using a telephone instead of the radio. The brief is to be a calm voice, providing concise, accurate

information to a stranger who is possibly stressed by their situation. I have put in the equivalent of two working weeks. Half a dozen other WICEN members have also put in time at BFIL.

Richard VK2SKY

Your local WICEN. Today we can identify a number of WICEN groups across the country, most accessible from the web page at https://wicen.org.au.2 They all will welcome your participation in a worthwhile cause.

• WICEN ACT - part of Canberra Region Amateur Radio Club

• WICEN NSW Inc – An Incorporated Association, with Charity Status

• WICEN Victoria - WICEN (Vic.) Inc.

• WICEN Queensland – Brisbane Area WICEN Group (Inc), WICEN Bundaberg, Ipswich & District Radio Club Inc. WICEN Group

• WICEN South Australia – WICEN SA Inc

• WICEN Western Australia – WICEN West Australia

• WICEN Tasmania – WICEN Tasmania (South)

• WICEN Northern Territory – Does not appear to be operating.

WICEN and 2019-20 bushfi resNeil Fallshaw VK2XNF, WICEN NSW Vice-president



SEE PARTS LIST & STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS AT:www.jaycar.com.au/morse-code-decoder

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between this date up to and including 1/1/1990 into the online Awards system. Alternatively, just upload your whole log. Then perform a “Show Award Status”. Source: Graham Alston, VK3GA, WIA Awards Manager, on behalf of the Awards Committee

19th Anniversary of ARISS OperationsOn November 13, 2000, the ARISS amateur radio payload was turned on and the fi rst operations occurred over Russia and the United States.

Our ARISS team is working feverishly on the fi nal certifi cation of our next generation radio system: the Interoperable Radio System ( based on Kenwood hardware, now no longer distributed in Australia). We thank all those that have supported this development effort through team support as well as donations!! We continue to move closer to a planned March 2020 launch of the hardware on SpaceX CRS-20.[ Thanks Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, AMSAT Vice President for Human Spacefl ight and ARISS International Chair for the above information]Source: AMSAT

RadioAnalogue ICOM IC-7300 Add-on RF ModuleRadioAnalogue has released a RF output module for the ICOM IC-7300 which enables the connection of an external SDR (Software Defi ne Radio). Unlike its bigger brother the IC-7610, the IC-7300 doesn’t have an I/Q output, a feature used for, among other things, wide-band morse decoding, contesting and external SDR panoramic displays (aka. panadapter). The PRTX-7300 is designed to be easy to fi t internally, with no soldering, modifi cation or alignment. This high performance module allows the user to obtain a buffered wideband RF output to drive ANY external SDR, including SDRplay, AirSpy, etc.

PTRX-7300 utilizes active high impedance probing technique to sample the IC-7300 bidirectional TX/RX signal line. Fortunately, IC-7300 has a connector on its PCB designated as J1431 where you can sample TX/RX signals. Because circuit is just sniffi ng (not loading RF signal line), thanks to its high input impedance amplifi er, it cannot be sensed by the rig and has no adverse effect on normal operation. There is no 3 dB or more loss as in the case of alternative power splitting methods to sample the signal. The amplifi er draws only 30mA, well within the 1A capability of the regulator. Available via distributors, the PRTX-7300 is described as not cheap, but very reasonably priced for such high quality custom engineering. [Ed: Note installation of this, or other 3rd party products, may impact your ICOM warranty]Refer website www.radioanalogue.com

2020 CubeSat Developers’ Workshop The 2020 CubeSat Developers’ Workshop will be held May 4 – 6 at the Cal Poly Performing Arts Centre in San Luis Obispo, California. www.cubesat.orgSource: ARRL

Continued on page 16



Homebrew HF TransceiverPart 1 Receiver Second articleLuigi Destefano VK3AQZ

This project is being published over six editions of the magazine. The Nov/Dec edition covered the receiver from the front end to the noise blanker. This edition covers the remainder of the receiver. Later editions will cover the transmitter, vfo system. construction and testing.

Part 1G Crystal fi ltersThe noise blanker feeds the crystal fi lter section. The circuit is shown in Figure 10. This section contains an SSB and an AM crystal fi lter selected by relays. Provision has been made in the switching and front panel controls for a future FM module. The SSB fi lter is a KVG 8 pole symmetrical fi lter with a nominal bandwidth of 2.4KHz. It is used on USB and LSB modes by switching the BFO crystals on either side of the fi lter pass band. The BFO crystals are matched to the fi lter and are +1.5KHz (for LSB), and -1.5KHz ( for USB) of the 9.000MHz centre frequency. They are positioned some distance down the slopes of the fi lter, which helps reduce the carrier even further than the suppression provided by balanced modulator section. In this design, the USB crystal is used on the LSB mode, and the LSB crystal on the USB mode. This is because the VFO frequency is on the high side of the incoming signal frequency resulting in sideband inversion.

The AM fi lter crystals were purchased as a matched set of 5 crystals in a kit from a local kit supplier (REF.9). The cost was quite reasonable when one considers the effort required to fi nd suitable matched crystals with the right parameters. The values of the crystal tuning components were

part of the kit. If you wish to use this fi lter and components, you will need to refer to the kit supplier. This fi lter has a centre frequency which is 4kHz above 9.000MHz, and a bandwidth of around 5.4KHz. The VFO system software has provision to correct for the 4KHz offset on receive and transmit. The fi lter has a few ripples in the pass band but it is acceptable. The overall attenuation is not as good as the SSB fi lter. The low side is only around -40dB at around 10KHz away from the centre frequency. As a result, when listening to AM broadcast signals around 8MHz using the 40 metre dipole, I can hear adjacent stations in the background. However they are not strong enough to be a problem. They are not there when using the SSB fi lter so in order to improve that aspect of the AM fi lter, I would need a much better fi lter. Since it really only happens in the broadcast area around 8MHz with strong Asian signals at night, I don’t worry about it.

Both fi lters contain buffer stages which provide some gain compensation for the insertion loss of the fi lters. They also assist in matching the fi lter input and output impedance. Crystal fi lters require to be correctly terminated in order to achieve the design pass band and skirt responses. The 2 fi lters have different terminating requirements. The AM fi lter requires a low 50 ohm source and load impedance hence the buffer stages are different to the SSB fi lter buffers. It also has a larger insertion loss that needs to be compensated for. The gain of the buffer stages, and the insertion loss of the fi lters, results in an overall module gain of around unity for both fi lters

The SSB crystal fi lter is also

used in the transmit SSB mode for removing the unwanted sideband. Although not strictly necessary, the transmit AM modulation is also passed through the AM crystal fi lter. Doing so restricts the modulation sidebands to the width of the fi lter.

Part 1H Intermediate or “IF” amplifi erThe IF amplifi er circuit is shown in Figure 11. The IF amplifi er contains an AD603 RF gain controlled amplifi er. The gain of the IC can be varied in a log linear manner from +9dB to +51dB. The unusual feature of this device is that the gain control is achieved by varying an internal resistor network. This ensures the linearity of the amplifi er is maintained as the gain is varied. In this design, the amplifi er has tuned input and output circuits. These offer a bit of voltage gain as well as restricting the noise bandwidth. One stage of IF amplifi cation is suffi cient in this design due to the use of a mixer with some gain. The amplifi er is quite stable and has a pretty good dynamic range. With previous homebrew designs, I have tended to use IF amplifi ers with too much gain and limited headroom. As a result, strong signals would go into clipping prior to the AGC system kicking in. This resulted in some forms of distortion which tended to affect the quality of the recovered speech. In this design, the IF signals can swing as high as 4 or 5 volts before clipping occurs, and this results in a cleaner sounding received signal.

The gain of the AD603 is controlled by DC voltages on pins 1 and 2. These are called GPOS and GNEG inputs. The gain of the amplifi er is varied by varying the voltage on pin 1 with respect to pin 2 by plus and minus half a volt.



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The 1 volt change results in a gain variation of 40dB. However, a thing to note is that the gain response has an undesirable effect if you exceed the 1 volt change. If the voltage on pin 1 continues to go further negative than the half volt difference, the gain starts to rise again. This is what is referred to as a “hockey stick” response. The normal “sweet” spot for the pin 2 reference voltage is around 4 volts. However in my design, the voltage on the reference pin is set at 2 volts so as to minimise this effect when AGC is applied to pin 1. The AGC line can vary from several volts down to maybe 1.5 volts depending on the incoming signal strength. So setting the reference voltage on pin 2 at a low 2 volts, helps overcome this issue without complicating the AGC circuitry to the IF stage. Other stages in the transceiver use a wider swing for control which is not compatible with the AGC requirements of the IF amplifi er if the reference voltage on pin 2 was set to 4 volts.

Under AGC control, the measured gain of the amplifi er varies from around 54dB at maximum, and falling to around 0dB at minimum. The maximum gain was tested at 9MHz with an input level of 10mVpp. This produced an output level of 5.5Vpp. In this case, the voltage on pin 1 was 0.8 volt higher than the reference, which is higher than the recommended 0.5V. I found that when pin 1 and pin 2 were at the same voltage, the gain was around 30dB. The noise fi gure is not as low as some IF amplifi ers and it varies with gain. The data sheet contains graphs of noise fi gure versus gain. However, since the IF amplifi er is preceded by several gain stages and a mixer, the noise fi gure is not an issue here.

I did try a 2 stage AD603 IF amplifi er but I found it was unstable under some conditions. And I think there was too much IF gain. As it stands, the one stage seems to be adequate and signals passing through it are very clean.

Part 1I AGCThe AGC circuit is shown in Figure 12. The AGC system in this design is a combination of IF and AF derived signals. The design is from REF 1 page 6.25 with changes to suit my components and signal levels. Front panel controls select fast or slow AGC action for IF and AF derived AGC. The IF derived AGC attack and release times are determined by C6, R10, plus C7 for slow. The AF derived AGC attack and release times are determined by C16, R31, plus R32 for fast. The AF derived AGC acts via Q5 and R11 to alter the release time of the IF derived AGC producing an AGC “hang” followed by a fast release action.

The derived AGC voltage is fed to the signal strength meter via one section of IC1. The second section of IC1 feeds an inverted voltage to the AGC line connected to the RF preamps and IF amplifi er. The no signal AGC voltage, set by bias control VR1, is around 7 volts. With a received full strength signal, the AGC voltage falls to around 1.5 volts. There are 3 gain controlled stages in the receiver line up. The IF amplifi er requires a 1 volt change, the Preamp 1 requires a 1.3 volt change, and Preamp 2, requires a 1.5 volt change. The no signal voltages for each of these stages is slightly different. These differences are catered for by setting reference controls and gain trimpots in the IF amp and the preamp 2 stage. Series diodes in the AGC line to the RF preamps provide a degree of delay in gain reduction in the RF stages. This helps the receiver maintain the best signal to noise ratio. The AGC system will require careful adjustment of the reference voltages if the best AGC performance is to be achieved. On strong signals you may experience popping on voice peaks if the AGC voltage is not carefully balanced between stages. Also, the meter response will not be very linear in terms of S points. However, I intend to use an AD8307 as a linear signal strength

indicator as a future addon so I have not spent a lot of time trying to obtain a log linear meter indication. The attack and release times are important in obtaining good AGC action without overshoots or slow release. The fi nal setup depends on several factors such as the required AGC voltage changes to each stage, the AGC response curves of each stage, and the resulting closed loop transfer function. There are integrated circuits available which are designed to produce effective AGC action in receivers and audio applications. The timings, and the resulting AGC voltage waveform can be quite complex. However, the design in this rig seems to work quite well. The attack and release times are shown in Table 2.

Part 1J BFOThe BFO circuit is shown in Figure 13. It consists of 3 crystal controlled oscillators used to recover SSB signals on receive, and produce DSB signals on transmit. For clarifi cation, a crystal with a frequency on the low frequency side of a crystal fi lter will produce an upper side band signal, and similarly, one on the high side will produce a lower sideband signal. The 3 crystals I am using are marked 9.0015MHz (LSB), 8.9985 (USB), and 9MHz. In this design, the VFO is on the high side of an incoming signal which results in sideband inversion.

The 9.0015MHz LSB crystal is used to resolve USB signals, and the 8.9985MHz USB crystal resolves LSB signals. The 9.0MHz crystal needs to be 4KHz above 9MHz and was selected from a batch of low cost crystals. The KVG 9MHz crystal was not able to be pulled the 4KHz necessary to match the AM fi lter centre frequency. It is used for CW signals and to transmit a carrier for tuning purposes. It is not switched on for AM reception. Each crystal is selected by front panel mode switches which provide power to each oscillator via separate 8 volt regulators. The same



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mode voltages are also reduced to 5 volt logic level, and activate pins on the Arduino processor. These mode logic signals alter the VFO frequency so that the display is correct for each mode, and also indicate the mode on the LCD display. Note - the software does not control the BFOs. However, it is not diffi cult to include code which can be used to switch the BFO crystals from the VFO system for each mode and band.

Each crystal oscillator has its own FET and is activated by switching the supply to the FET. The frequency can be trimmed with small ceramic trimmers and each FET has a tuned circuit output which helps produce a low

harmonic signal. Adjusting the tuned circuit however will alter the frequency slightly. So after peaking the tuned circuits, adjust the crystal trimmers for the right frequency. A buffer amplifi er consisting of Q4 and Q5, confi gured as a feedback pair, feed the product detector and balanced modulator. The product detector and balanced modulator are both 1496 mixers and require around 350mVpp to 450mVpp carrier levels. The buffer amplifi er is capable of several volts of output if one wants to use mixers requiring higher levels of drive.

In use, the stability of these FET oscillators is not as good as I expected and have a tendency to shift around 10Hz from switch

on. After a short while they remain stable. So that is an area that can be improved.

Part 1K Receive SSB and AM detector The SSB and AM detector circuit is shown in Figure 14. It consists of a 1496 confi gured as a product detector, and pair of OA91 or 1N5711 diodes as an AM envelope detector. The 1496 gain can be adjusted with the trimpot between pins 3 and 4 used to match the output of the AM detector. The AM detector also requires an extra amplifi er consisting of Q1. For improved sensitivity and linearity, the AM detector contains a bias adjustment, VR1, which is used to



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overcome the small turn on voltage of the diodes.

Part 1L Receiver audio speaker amplifi erThe receiver speaker amplifi er circuit is shown in Figure 15. The receive audio amplifi er consists of a TDA2002 8W power amplifi er. It has a gain of around 40db, distortion of 0.2%, low noise, and stable. The TDA2002 is driven by a BC549C transistor with a voltage gain of 4. The BC549C has been chosen because it is a good low noise audio transistor. SSB, AM, and FM (future) audio signals are fed to the amplifi er via a relay switching unit controlled by the front panel mode switches. The output of the speaker amplifi er feeds an internal speaker, a switched headphone socket, and some external speaker connections at the rear of the case. The output incorporates a relay which switches the amplifi er from speaker to a 10 ohm dummy load on transmit. The audio amplifi er output has a DC component so the audio signal is coupled to the speaker via a large coupling capacitor. On transmit, removal of the supply voltage to the TDA2002, can cause the coupling capacitor to discharge through the speaker and internal devices in the TDA2002, resulting in a thump noise. Disconnecting the speaker on transmit with a small relay minimises the thump. Some audio power amplifi ers with bridge output confi gurations do not suffer this problem. In addition, wiring and the

discharging of various decoupling electrolytic capacitors across the 10 volt receive line, have a tendency to remain charged for a short moment on transmit, which can produce clicks and pops heard on the speaker.

The TDA2002 has a metal tab incorporated into the package. That, in conjunction with the high power handling ability, results in an audio amplifi er with plenty of headroom and dynamic range. As a result, speech peaks, which can reach around 8db higher than average, do not go into clipping, resulting in a cleaner sounding output. The metal tab also helps in keeping the chip cool during these peaks and thereby maintain the high dynamic range. This metal tab, in intimate contact with the internal die, is also important in producing a nice clean low distortion audio. In my experience using smaller audio amplifi er packages such as the LM380 and LM386, can cause a form of distortion on speech peaks which are often blamed on other parts of the radio, or originating in the transmitted audio. So in order to avoid distortion due to clipping on speech peaks, I recommend the use of a speaker amplifi er device with a metal tab, and plenty of power handling ability. With the TDA2002 and BC549C combination, the noise is so low, you will think it is not working when powered up and without an input! Photo 1L shows the speaker amplifi er and input switching boards prior to wiring.

References1. Wes Hayward, Rick Campbell,

Bob Larkin. Experimental Methods in RF Design. Revised First Edition . ARRL Publication. 2009. Page 6-12, Fig.6.32.

2. Roy Hejhall, ON Semiconductor, Application Note AN531/D, MC1496 Balanced Modulator, Jan. 2002, Rev.3. http://onsemi.com Application notes section.

3. Ulich Rhode, Understanding and handling noise, Ham Radio magazine, Nov. 1986, Page 10 - 22.

4. Radio Communication Handbook, Thirteenth Edition, RSGB Publication.

5. Wes Hayward, Introduction to Radio Frequency Design, 1994, ARRL Publication.

6. Helge O. Granberg, Motorola RF Application Reports, AN762, Linear Amplifi ers for mobile operation. Pages 128 -136.

7. Simon Monk, Programming Arduino, Getting started with sketches, Mc Graw Hill Publication.

8. The transmitter low pass fi lters were designed using SVC Filter design by James L. Tonne, W4ENE. See web address: http://www.tonnesoftware.com/

9. Mini-kits in South Australia. http://www.minikits.com.au/

10. Jim Tregellas, A low distortion two tone oscillator, Amateur Radio, June 2013, Wireless Institute of Australia,pages 14 -17.

CCW Tactical HF Antenna and HF/VHF/UHF Multi-couplerCross Country Wireless has announced that the company has made signifi cant further developments on some of its antenna products, with a new product about to be released.


This is the Tactical HF Broadband Antenna. It is actually an antenna kit, which allows operators to build a wide range of transmitting and receiving antennas, to fi t whatever space they have available. CCW also have designed an HF/VHF/UHF Multi-coupler that allows a single antenna to be shared with up to fi ve receivers.

The Multi-coupler has in-built lightning surge and over-power protection on the antenna port with over-power protection on each receiver port. For more information on these and other CCW products: http://www.crosscountrywireless.netSource: Chris Moulding, CCW



Callbooks, or listings of call signs and locations of amateur experimental stations, have been part of amateur radio in Australia, almost from the inception of licenced operation.

Research indicates that these listings of stations came about for two interwoven main reasons. Initially, to enable amateurs to locate the whereabouts of like-minded experimenters with whom communication might be possible, and secondly, to help minimise interference or potential interference between users of the spectrum – or “the aether” as it was referred to by most in those early days.

As time progressed a third aspect developed and that was “the fi nal act of a QSO or contact”, to confi rm in writing, by mail, the contact event. It usually took the form of a hand written or printed exchange which included signal reports, date and time of contact, together with some information of the station sending the report, the equipment and operating conditions. In the case of very early QSLs, not all detail was

included – if you received a written report from a distant station, then it was considered a privilege, and obviously a confi rmation by the station hearing you.

Not only were local callbooks published, i.e. those issued by, or at least provisioned by the country’s licencing authorities, but also, in time, a combined “International Callbook”, became available for the keen DX operator.

1912, A Listing by the Wireless Institute of NSWThe earliest published listing of amateur stations was made by the Wireless Institute of New South Wales in October 1912. In hindsight, it appears that this publication was largely a fi t for the fi rst reason mentioned above, as the only experimenters it contained, were stations owned by Wireless Institute of NSW members. It was in effect a membership list albeit with some additional information, and was perhaps even used as an incentive to attract new members. The listing also provided limited information to help any aspiring “wireless”

operator to identify the signal source and perhaps the location of the sending station, even if only a partial callsign was received.

That fi rst known 1912 listing of callsigns also contained some 158 ship and 18 Land Stations, both international and within Australia. There were only six Australian Government Stations listed, plus MKI Cocos Island and MQI Macquarie Island together with MAL Adelieland, established for Mawson’s Antarctic expedition. The list Included 33 licenced Members of the Wireless Institute of NSW, but no non-members, as the list was prepared for Members only: “Compiled by the Wireless Institute of NSW, solely for the use of its Members and not for public circulation”. (1)

This article has purposely differentiated between “Callsign Listings” and “Callbooks”. The 1912 NSW “wall-chart”, a listing, was a single sheet designed to be attached to the experimenter’s wireless-room wall. At that time of low frequency spark communications, only a few

Australian Callbooks contain a surprising amount of historical information covering a wide range of subject matter. Through them it is possible to track many aspects of the history and evolution of the Radio Amateur Service in this country. (Part 1)

Callbooks: Their continuing valuePeter Wolfenden VK3RV, WIA Historian

Photo 1: Extract of 1912 WI NSW Callsign List.



amateurs succeed in receiving, and/or transmitting to distant stations. Most experimentation involved relatively short range contacts, in the order of 1 to 100 miles (1.5 to 150 km), however, there are the odd reports of long distant contacts being made by experimenter’s of about 1600 miles (2500 km) and some of these were with ships at sea and offi cial or government stations. (2) (3)

Gradual change was taking place during the years immediately pre-WWI as witnessed by the increasing number of licences being issued. The interest in receiving ships at sea coupled with the growing number of Australian Government coastal stations, together with increasing numbers of licenced private experimenters, all helped spur on interest in wireless. It also stimulated many more individuals to become involved in transmitting - a great challenge to the enquiring school-boy’s mind and relatively easily achieved by the use of modifi ed door buzzers and the like, but very costly from the aspect of licencing, especially if you were indeed an average schoolboy! Fees were in the order of $435 today (£3/3/- in 1910), dropping in 1914 to about £1/1/- or $145 in today’s value. There was no licence exam.

The rapid increase in involvement (both legal and illegal) obviously caused concern for those attempting to regulate the spectrum, to protect the effectiveness of the newly established government assets, and presumably raise revenue from all aspects of wireless including collecting the annual licencing fees from individuals.

So by 1913/14, we see a melding of the needs of experimental radio amateurs and the emerging professional users of the spectrum who demanded

protection and separation from other users. Simultaneously, was the positioning of the Regulator attempting to interpret and administer the 1905 Wireless Telegraphy Act of Parliament. There was indeed a multifaceted need for a National Callbook which was duly achieved in 1914. In reality it was of limited use because World War One broke out a few months after it was published.

1914, Wireless in Australia – A National CallbookThe fi rst comprehensive callbook to be published here, was in May 1914. By then wireless interest was certainly on the increase. For example the total number of licenced NSW experimenters, (receiving and transmitting), had grown to 166 and one must remember that this was 10 years before Broadcasting commenced, so all “listeners in” during 1914, needed to be able to “read” (or de-code) Morse code to get any intelligence at all from the wireless signals they were receiving.

Wireless in Australia, was published by the Wireless Institute of Victoria. Included in its Preface, is that the information contained in it was obtained from: “..offi cial and other authentic sources in order to fi ll a long felt want by Wireless Experimenters….” (4)

The publication largely came about because of meetings held between the Commonwealth Wireless Director, John Balsillie and the WI Vic. During an April 1913 meeting. Mr. Balsillie promised the WI Vic.: “…a copy of call signals recognised by the government…so that interference to offi cial stations by experimenters, could be minimised…” (5)

Therefore our fi rst callbook, fi ts into both the fi rst and second categories

listed in the opening comments. It provided information for, and about, the wireless experimenters. It also assisted in minimising interference, or potential interference, between users of the spectrum. And lastly, it would also have been of considerable assistance to the “Radio Inspectors” of the day, by providing them with a small, portable list of stations which they could easily carry and access. Mr. Balsillie would have been well aware of that advantage!

The callbook contained information about 401 Australian Experimental stations (of which 5 were Wireless Institute and school, or university stations), 14 Navy Stations, a total of 33 Land Stations, (including 8 Military Pack Sets) and 293 other ship’s call signs. The Australian Coastal Service stations as shown in the WI NSW 1912 listing, were initially allocated callsigns such as POS (Post Offi ce Sydney) POB, (Brisbane) etc. By 1914 there were 20 of these stations, which now operated as VIS (Sydney), VIB

Photo 2: Cover of 1914 Call Book.



etc. Preparation for war and security requirements caused the installation of coastal stations to be accelerated. Wireless in Australia also provided general operational information appropriate to the day. (6)

Side-tracking briefl y, to look at the other side of the world at that time. The Bright Sparks of Wireless, an RSGB historical publication, contained an amended 1913 callsign listing of 382 Experimental Stations. It appears that all of these stations were permitted to transmit, sixteen were clubs, school and similar experimental stations.

A major difference between the UK and the Australian listings was the amount of detail included by the UK. As well as the callsign, name and address of the licencee; information was included on power, transmitting wavelengths, sending range (distance), receiving wavelengths, receiving range (distance), usual time of operating, radio club affi liation and even a contact telephone number.

The majority of stations stated that they operated in the 100m to 400m bands, although there was the odd one stating 25m, 80m and even 10m (which was probably a typographical error for 100m). Transmitting ranges shown, were generally in the 5 to 20 miles (7.5 to 30 km) with the occasional 100 to 200 miles (150 to 300 km). Very few were anticipating any distances over that.

The inclusion of the telephone number is interesting and perhaps indicative of the need for authorities of a densely populated country to be able to quickly contact a station if it there was suspicion, that interference was being caused by an experimenter to an offi cial station. Not all experimenters had a phone or included a phone number! (7)

World War One, declared in August 1914, saw the closure of experimenter’s stations in Australia and elsewhere around the world.

(1) Wireless Calls 1st October 1912, WI NSW, Malcolm Perry Hon Secretary, (WIA Archive)

(2) Mr. Pike and the Makura talks 1400 miles from Sydney, Evening News, Sydney, 21 Mar., 1919, p10

(3) Victorian Amateur Wireless Men Alert, Herald, Melbourne, 17 Nov., 1913, p1

(4) Wireless In Australia, Preface, WI Vic., May 1914, p1

(5) Restricting Experimenters, Argus, Melbourne, 4 April 1913, p15

(6) Wireless In Australia, WI Vic., May 1914, http://www.wia.org.au/members/history/callbooks/documents/1914 WIV Call Book

(7) The Bright Sparks of Wireless, G.R. Jessop, Radio Society of G.B., 1990, ISBN 0 900612 9 59, p72

Post World War One Although Armistice was signed on November 11, 1918, the formal end to WWI was not proclaimed until June 28, 1919, at the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. Following WWI there was great reluctance on the part of various authorities, especially Navies, to allow the return of operating privileges to many countries’ experimenters, especially here in Australia.

On the positive side however, from October 1920, the Postmaster General’s Department was fi rmly back in control, a situation which was seen as a distinct advantage by experimenters and other potential users of the spectrum. A new era in wireless had begun and experimenter’s callsigns together with published callsign listings, were

destined to enter a new age. (1) But it took a deal of lobbying

before limited access did became a reality about a year later, in September 1921. By then, offi cially there were about 500 stations licenced, but very few were for transmitting purposes. (2)

Transmitting licences did not generally become available until late 1922, well behind many other countries. Prime Minister Hughes made a very pointed announcement in the House of Representatives on July 28, 1922, in which he stated that facilities granted in other parts of the world, would be given to amateurs here, under proper control and that no restrictions other than those to prevent interference would be imposed. Mr Hughes also confi rmed that he would see that the Wireless Company did not interfere in the enforcing of the wireless laws, and that the administration of the Wireless Telegraphy Act and Regulations is carried out by Government offi cers only. (3)

Photo 3 - Advertisment For Marconi - Telefunken School.



A new callsign regime was activated, together with more complex and focused licencing requirements. The new callsigns included a numerical State identifi er. For example, 2CM was allocated to well-known Sydney experimenter, Charles Maclurcan, the “2” indicating that his station was located in NSW. Likewise, Lance Jones, licenced as XVB pre-WWI was allocated 5BQ, the “5” indicating that the station was located in South Australia.

There was still no identifi er or prefi x for the Country. It would appear that the authorities did not think that long-distance communication by experimenters was very likely. But all this started to change in 1924 after it became obvious that the higher frequencies were indeed capable of providing reliable, long distance, low powered communication. Then the prefi x “A” was added to existing call signs, so 5BQ became A5BQ. A further change was implemented in 1927 when the additional prefi x “O” was included making Australia “OA”, so A5BQ became OA5BQ. The “O” indicating that Australia was in the Oceania area. “VK” commenced in1929.

It is notable that neither the “A”, or “OA” prefi x is included in any Archive held callsign listings published during the 1920s and it was1930 before “VK” was included in some lists, and even then, only as a general comment at the Head of the fi rst page: “Every call sign in this list below bears prefi x VK”. The actual callsigns were still printed as 5BQ etc.

Returning to our chronology. The earliest published post-WWI list of call signs in the WIA Archive is from Radio in Australia and New Zealand magazine of September 1923. It reveals that there were a total of 160 licenced experimental transmitting stations. Twenty-

two were WIA, University, Schools and Club licences.

Interest continued to grow as refl ected in the 1924 listing from the Sydney Evening News Wireless Handbook. It showed a doubling of amateur transmitting stations to 354, of which 31 were WIA, University, Schools and Club licences. Some of stations were “Dealers” licences held by such organisations David Jones Ltd. (2DJ) in Sydney and New Systems Telephones (3ZL) in Melbourne. AWA also held licences in a number of States, amongst them, in Sydney 2ME, and in Victoria, 3MB for the Kooweerup, Gippsland fi eld testing station.

The actual listings at this time were often just a few pages within the respective magazine or newspaper. They provided bare information of Callsign, Name and Suburb or District of the station. Sometimes an additional page of relevant wireless material might be included, but generally it was limited and presumably the call sign information was supplied by the

PMG’s Department.1926 saw a noticeable change in

the presentation of callsign listings. Amalgamated Wireless, Australasia (AWA) published and sold a comprehensive, quality hand-book/catalogue entitled Radio Guide - “In Touch with the World”, page one revealing that it was also a Price List.

This book contained 372 Experimenters’ callsigns together with information about many other Australian and New Zealand wireless services. The book also contained an interesting collection of wireless related photographs and many pages of information together with an extensive catalogue of equipment sold by AWA. The book of 104 pages, sold for 1 shilling or about $4 today.

The following edition in 1927 was expanded to 176 pages. It listed 404 Experimenters and continued the 1926 approach to general wireless information for this part of the world.

The last Archive record we have Pre-WWII, is a 1938 Wireless

Weekly listing which indicated a total of 1,985 licenced Australian Wireless Experimenters.

The declaration of war in September 1939, again saw all Experimenters’ stations closed down.

Photo 4: Cover Of 1926 AWA Radio Guide.

(1) Wireless Stations Transfer to the Postal Department, West Australian, Perth, 14 Sept., 1920, p6

(2) Amateurs and Wireless, Argus, Melbourne, 13 Sept., 1921, p9

(3) Question to Prime Minister Hughes on Regulation of Wireless, Hansard No.30, 28 July 1922, p917

Note: Part 2 of this 2 part series will continue from WW2 until present day.



BackgroundMy commercial microwave power meter is getting very long in the tooth and I worry that one day in the near future it will fail. As for alternatives, purchasing another second-hand unit in Australia is not really an option. I had previously used an ADL5519 Analog Devices dual input power sensor in a Scalar Network Analyser (AR No 2, 2019). To try an alternative approach I purchased a couple of Chinese AD8317 modules from Banggood as they are specifi ed to work from 1 MHz to 10,000 MHz. I assumed that they would probably still work at 10,400 MHz. The end result of this project is a high performance, wideband power meter at relatively low cost.

Sensor Module ResponseThe AD8317 modules were tested at spot frequencies of 50, 1500, 4000 and 10368 MHz with the output of the module connected to an analog input on an Arduino Nano

Board. The Arduino Nano is using an external 2.5V reference. The chart below (Figure 1) shows the A to D output in units versus the input Level in dBm for one module. The output is linear and independent of frequency at frequencies between 50 and 4000 MHz. At 10,368 MHz the sensitivity is reduced and the linearity is not as good, but the sensor remains quite usable.

Input ImpedanceI measured the sensor input return loss. The return loss was poor (between 5 and 10 dB) between 500 MHz and 10.4 GHz. When the board was examined closely it was evident that the input terminating resistor was 75 ohms. The application note recommends a 52 ohm resistor for a broadband match. A 51 ohm 805 surface mount resistor was substituted. This considerably improved the return loss at lower frequencies (16 dB at 1000 MHz), but at frequencies between 1500 and 4400 MHz the return loss remained in the range 5 to 9 dB. A spot measurement at 10.4 GHz resulted in a return loss of better than 20 dB.

Arduino SketchAn application was written for an Arduino Nano that displays the sensor input level on a 16 x 2 line LCD display.

To compensate for the variation in response with frequency, spot frequency calibration data is applied to the measurements. The builder is free to input as many sets of calibration data as they feel is necessary. A push button

Wide Band RF Power Meter:50 MHz to 10.4 GHz Jim Henderson VK1AT

Photo 1: Wideband Power Meter.

Photo 2: D8317 Power Sensor.



switch allows the user to toggle between the sets of calibration data displaying the current calibration frequency.

If the input level exceeds the maximum allowed (-2 dBm) an out of range indication appears on the display.

ConstructionConstruction of the unit is straight forward. The AD8317 module (see photo below) is widely available from E Bay or Banggood.

A standard Arduino Nano is used with an external LM336 2.5V reference. The display is a large format LCD display

have a standard Nano project board I use which includes a regulator and other components required to support the display. This is not essential. The schematic is shown below.

I built the unit in a standard Jaycar project case, with the sensor mounted in a separate diecast box. Given that I am operating the unit at 10 GHz I used an

SMA connector as the sensor head external connector.

Figure 2: Microwave Power Meter Schematic.

Photo 3: Internal Layout.

type ERM1602-1. It has slightly different pin outs compared to a standard smaller format display. I



CalibrationTo calibrate the sensor a signal generator with a calibrated output or a calibrated power meter is required.

A separate Arduino sketch “Microwave_Power_Meter_Raw_Output” is used to derive the calibration data to include in the Power Meter Arduino sketch. It averages the A to D output over 20 measurements before outputting the value to the LCD display.

The “Microwave Power Meter V1.0” sketch can include calibration data for a number of frequencies. The data is inserted in the sketch as shown below:

This example shows two sets of calibration data for frequencies of 50 and 1500 MHz. The #defi ne DataSets statement defi nes the

number of calibration datasets. The _CalInput values are the lower and upper levels in dBm used to calibrate the unit. The _CalAtoD values are the AtoD output levels measured with the Raw Output sketch corresponding to the _CalInput values.

At frequencies below 5 GHz select input values around -5 and -55 dBm as the calibration input values. At 10 GHz select values around -5 and -35 dBm as the calibration input values.

As the sensor response is linear the two calibration values at each frequency are used to derive a linear response function. Using

this technique, with four sets of calibration data for frequencies of 50MHz, 1500MHz, 4000MHz and 10368MHz, the largest error measured was 1.5 dB. Errors are generally less than 1 dB. (Measurements were made between -5 and -55 dBm for the frequency range 50 to 4000 MHz. At 10368 MHz measurements were made between -5 and

-35 dBm.) I suspect one major source of errors is the repeatability of connector losses as connectors are continually disconnected

// Defi ne the number of sets of calibration data#defi ne DataSets 2....//set up arrays with calibration values //Set one calibration data CalFreq[0] = 50; LowerCalAtoD[0] = 636; UpperCalAtoD[0] = 166; LowerCalInput[0] = -56.4; UpperCalInput[0] = -6.4; //Set two calibration data CalFreq[1] = 1500; LowerCalAtoD[1] = 619; UpperCalAtoD[1] = 178; LowerCalInput[1] = -55; UpperCalInput[1] = -5;

and connected. I have not tested the sensor below 50 MHz, it is likely to continue to perform well down through the HF bands as determined by the value of the input coupling capacitor.

Hardware and Software ProcurementThe major items of hardware are listed below. If you would like a copy of the two Arduino sketches, please email me at [email protected]. Note: The photo at the beginning of the article shows a homebrew signal generator driving the sensor module. This is based on a Chinese ADF5355 board controlled by an Arduino sketch I wrote to program the thirteen, 32 bit registers. It covers 54 MHz to 13600 MHz. This may be the basis of a future technical article if there is suffi cient interest.

Major ComponentsAD8317 Module (E Bay)Arduino: Nano (Ebay)LCD Display: ERM1602-1 (Minikits)Instrument Case: HB-5912 (Jaycar)

ConclusionThe performance of this unit given its modest cost is excellent. The unit is simple to construct with most of the work associated with the mechanical side of the project.

I fi nd it convenient to use when large dynamic range and careful tweaking is required, for example when tuning pipe cap fi lters at 10.368 GHz. I actually prefer it to a spectrum analyser for these type of jobs.

To keep up to date with all of the major Australian contests, including rules and results, at the WIA Contest Website at:www.wia.org.au/members/contests/about

WIA Contest Website



Want to receive HF amateur digital mode communication on a receiver you built yourself? Here’s a project to try. Start construction in the morning and be decoding JS8 activity by evening.

Never heard of JS8? It’s an effi cient digital communications mode somewhat like the popular FT8 but with more features. These include the ability to have ‘free text’ contacts, relay and store messages and get automatic signal reports from stations on frequency. While there’s less JS8 on the air than FT8, usage is growing.

JS8 is homebrew-friendly. Transceiver kits for it and related digital modes have become available. A stroke of serendipity is that its 3.5 MHz frequency is especially easy to build equipment for, as you will learn later.

The JS Eight Zero’s build cost

shouldn’t much exceed $20. All parts are available from local sources such as Altronics and Jaycar. It would make an ideal group or club project. And, as will be described later, potential exists to cheaply add transmit capability. Recent rule changes mean that Foundation hams can also transmit with gear they have built themselves.

Circuit descriptionThis unit is basically a receiving converter that shifts incoming 3.5 MHz signals to audio frequencies that are accepted by your computer’s sound card and the free JS8Call software.

The conversion is done with a diode mixer and a locally generated signal set to 3.578 MHz (the recommended ‘dial frequency’ for JS8). A lower level signal whose frequency is equal to the small

difference between the frequency of the incoming signal and the locally generated signal is present at the mixer’s output. A transistor audio amplifi er boosts this to match what the computer’s sound card input requires.

A crystal oscillator provides a stable signal on 3.578 MHz. This is fi xed since all ‘tuning’ with these narrow bandwidth digital modes is done on the computer. As luck would have it, 3.578 MHz is easily generated by using cheap 3.5795 MHz TV colourburst crystals that are just 1.5 kHz higher. The slightly lower frequency required is obtained by adding series inductance to pull their frequency downward. This is done in a ‘super VXO’ arrangement with parallel crystals for the necessary wider swing. The variable capacitor operates as a ‘set and forget’ control for precise frequency adjustment.

The JS Eight Zero: Simple 3.5 MHz JS8 receiver uses cheap crystalsPeter Parker VK3YE

Figure 1: Circuit diagram.



A buffer stage between the oscillator and the mixer provides the required amplifi cation and isolation necessary for proper performance and stability. Conventional NPN transistors are used for this and other stages in the receiver.

The JS Eight Zero is direct conversion. That’s good for simplicity but not for selectivity. The lack of opposite sideband rejection means that signals about 2 to 4 kilohertz the other side of the centre frequency (ie about 3.576 – 3.577 MHz) can blot out desired signals at 3.579 to 3.580 MHz. This small risk of interference and reduced signal to noise ratio of desired signals was not thought important enough to make the circuit more complex. However if you do want better selectivity it could be worth experimenting with crystal band pass or notch fi lters using 3.58 MHz crystals or ceramic resonators in the antenna connection.

Parts and constructionThe receiver uses common parts. Those slightly more specialised include the three 3.58 MHz crystals, the two 22 uH RF chokes and the transistor radio variable capacitor to adjust the local oscillator’s frequency. A two hole binocular ferrite is the only coil you need to wind, which, because of its broadband nature, is not very critical.

Component values are not particularly critical. However the two 82 ohm resistors in the mixer stage should be the same value to preserve balance (though it doesn’t matter if they are both 68 ohm or 100 ohm). I would also stick with the specifi ed values for the 1nF capacitors in

the crystal oscillator circuit so its output can be adjusted to the right frequency. Its minimum value isn’t very important but the variable capacitor’s maximum value should be at least 160 pF and preferably higher. Connect two sections together if a single section offers insuffi cient capacitance. The oscillator will still work with insuffi cient capacitance but you will not be able to shift it low enough in frequency.

I built mine in a small metal box. Charity shops often have suitable containers (usually found near the metal biscuit tins). Most parts are mounted on a 4 x 6cm double-sided circuit board, with the unetched copper forming a ground plane to which their grounded leads can be soldered.

The crystal oscillator and buffer is on one side of the circuit board while the mixer and audio amplifi er occupies the other side. If you lack double sided board you could use two single sided pieces with the copper sides outwards. A small wire link electrically connects both copper sides.

To provide adequate support for the heavier parts (eg the mixer’s ferrite and the oscillator’s crystals) their leads (except any connected to earth) are run to pads glued to the main circuit board. These pads, approximately

5mm square, are cut from printed circuit board material. The photos show the receiver’s internal construction.

You don’t need much test equipment to build and test this receiver. The most important item is a 3.5 MHz SSB receiver with an accurate frequency display.

An RF indicator or probe, RF signal generator and utility audio amplifi er (or high impedance headphones) are also handy.

Start by building the crystal oscillator and buffer. Transistors are the only polarised parts used. You also need to be careful of connections to the variable capacitor. Even the simplest plastic dielectric variable capacitors have two capacitors built in. One is a lower value type (up to approximately 60 pF) for the radio’s oscillator and the other (up to approximately 160 pF) for the ferrite rod antenna. Usually these are the outer two connections with the centre connection (which is sometimes slightly thicker) connected to ground. Bridging both sections provides a higher value (approximately 220 pF) which is desirable to ensure suffi cient downward tuning range.

The 22uH RF chokes are connected in series, between the parallel crystals and the variable

Figure 2: Example text decoded with this receiver in use.

Photo 1: JS80 receiver with computer.



capacitor. Only temporarily solder them during testing as you may need to change their values if what you have doesn’t allow oscillation on exactly 3.578 MHz. It’s worth buying chokes of other nearby values like 10uH, 15uH and 33uH in case they are needed.

Check oscillator operation by adding a short wire to the buffer’s output, applying power and tuning an SSB receiver near 3.58 MHz. You should hear a loud carrier. Its frequency should change by a few kilohertz when the variable capacitor is varied. The exact range doesn’t matter but you do need to zero beat it on to 3.578 MHz, which is JS8’s centre frequency on the 80m band.

The process of zero beating is easiest if your receiver has an IF shift adjustment. Then you can tune above and below the zero beat frequency and fi nd the exact centre. When you’re very close the tone you hear will get increasingly low until it vanishes to become slow beats before eventually stopping. Mark that location on the tuning capacitor dial and case using white paint, correction fl uid or similar.

What if you can’t get exactly 3.578 MHz? After all this is about 1.5 kHz below the crystal’s marked frequency and this amount of excursion can be diffi cult with crystals below about 4 MHz. Check how low you can go – you may be 500 to 1000 Hz too high. Add some extra inductance. For example instead of 22 uH in series with 22 uH you could have

22 uH in series with 33 uH. Or, if you want only a small increase in inductance 15 uH in series with 33 uH is another option. Adding more inductance will decrease the frequency hopefully without affecting oscillator start-up reliability or frequency stability too much.

Other possibilities

include adding a fourth parallel crystal, or, if you’re only very slightly too high, some extra capacitance (eg 220 pF) soldered across the variable capacitor.

The other half of the receiver is the mixer and audio amplifi er section. The input inductor is wound on a two hole binocular-style ferrite often used in TV rabbits ears antenna or available from electronic retailers. These are typically about 10mm wide and either 5 or 10 mm long. Holes are about 4 or 5mm diameter. The exact size does not matter provided you are able to get all wires through.

The antenna side has ten windings of enamel copper wire while the diode side has four windings. Windings are through both holes. Enamelled copper wire can come from old power transformers. A diameter of about 0.3 to 0.5 mm is ideal; it’s not critical provided suffi cient turns can fi t through the ferrite.

Polarised parts include the four diodes in the mixer, the transistor, electrolytic capacitors and the output level control. Construction can start with the audio amplifi er.

This can be tested on its own with a signal tracer or even high impedance headphones. A fi nger on the input should demonstrating that it is amplifying. There’s little to go wrong here except for incorrect transistor or power polarity.

I’ve already discussed the winding of the mixer ferrite inductor. Because it is relatively heavy and most connections are not soldered to the ground plane, I suggest using glued squares of circuit board material to offer support as pictured. Do not forget the connections between stages, for example from the buffer’s output to the diode mixer.

TestingTest the receiver before plugging in the computer. Connect a full sized 3.5 MHz antenna and set the output level to maximum. Apply 12 volts power. If you have sensitive high impedance headphones (or a general purpose audio amplifi er and speaker) you may be able to hear band noise.

Apply a carrier signal with an RF signal generator or CW transceiver set to 3.579 MHz. You should hear a 1 kHz tone if you’ve correctly adjusted the local oscillator. Because this is a direct conversion receiver with no image rejection, a similar tone will be heard if the incoming signal is moved to 3.577 MHz. Locally transmitted SSB on a dial frequency of 3.578 MHz should also be intelligible, with it becoming less so if the transmitter’s frequency is moved several hundred hertz or more.

Photo 2: JS80 receiver with lead to computer.

Photo 3: JS80 internal view showing both sides of board.



What if you don’t hear band noise, even with a good antenna and audio amplifi er? You’re either in a very quiet location, or, more likely, there’s something wrong with the receiver. Check wiring again.

Another problem that can arise is front-end overload from a nearby AM broadcast station. You may hear one or more stations. The unselective front end of this receiver, a short-cut taken to aid simplicity, can exacerbate this. A high pass or band pass fi lter, set to attenuate frequencies below 3.5 MHz, can fi x this. Or, for some partial relief without adding a full fi lter, try a lower value (eg 47 or 100 pF) for the 220 pF capacitor in the antenna line. An antenna coupler with a high pass or band pass confi guration is another solution.

Although it’s easy to use, I suggest getting a little familiarity with the JS8Call software (js8call.com) before connecting this receiver to the computer. Do this by monitoring JS8 activity with your SSB receiver. 7.078 MHz USB seems to be the most active frequency. You may have to wait a while until you see a signal as JS8 is less used than the very popular FT8. Note the bar on the left that shows the audio input level and how this varies as you adjust the receiver’s volume.

Some computers have separate 3.5mm stereo sockets for their audio in and out connections. Others, particularly laptops

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